Civilians with their belongings flee from plague and famine affected areas in Soviet Russia not long after end of World War I. Horse-drawn wagons pass on road. Refugees wait for evacuation boats near the Volga River. Famine victims in rural Kasan, Soviet Russia. Victims and children die due to starvation in their mothers' arms. An old age lady starves with a boy leaning against pole. Men, women and children together outside tents. People crowd around a soldier giving out morsels of bread.American Relief Administration supplies being unloaded from train at railroad station. An armed military guard stands nearby. People queued up for food. Children eat. Children examined and assisted by relief experts Dr Vernon Lyman Kellogg and Elmer Burland.

Meeting of men in a rural village of Russia, during the hard times following world war I and the ensuing revolution and civil war. Closeup of local leader speaking to men of the village. Behind him hangs a homemade flag with hammer and sicle and various slogans written on it. Camera pans back and forth from the speaker to the audience during the film, showing closeups of some of the village men as they listen intently. An intervening slate, in cyrillic, seems to allude to the U.S. and a working relationship with the village (possibly related to efforts of the U.S. American Relief Administration, in Russia, during this period). At the conclusion of the talk, the villagers are obviously delighted with what they heard. Some of the men express their exuberance by lifting the speaker, bodily, up and down several times.

Scenes from the Russian Revolution and years immediately after in Russia, roughly 1918-1921. Troops moving in the snow. Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, the Bolshevik leader, makes peace with the Germans. The Civil War breaks out in Russia. White Russians continue war with World War 1 allies, against Germany. Czarist Cossacks seek to restore the monarchy of Nicholas II. Photograph of the Russian Czar and family sitting outdoors on the ledge of a wooden building. Secret police seen arresting people. Bolshevik firing squad executes three prisoners, who fall dead into a mass grave behind them. Lenin, holding a kitten in his hand, seated at a table. March 7, 1921: Workers and sailors gathered on the streets, in Kronstadt, demanding peace, freedom, and bread. Red Army Troops disperse the crowd, shooting many of them. Leon Trotsky, Commander of the Red Army, states that the slaughter was necessary. Trotsky seen walking with other officers. People on the sides of a path watching Trotsky. Families looking over dead workers and sailors in a field.

Crowd milling about in Kronstadt, West of Saint Petersburg,Russia, as group of Russian sailors, soldiers and civilians, marches in their midst carrying a Sign reading "Peace, Freedom, and Bread." On March 7, 1921, The Bolshevik government sends 60,000 troops under command of Mikhail Tukhachevsky to quell the disturbance. They are seen marching in the streets. Next scene shows women looking amongst the fallen for their relatives. View of Leon Trotsky (Commander of the Red Army) walking with some of his staff. View of human remains. Brief view of Lenin. Trotsky writing at his desk. Narrator mentions the State Security Agency called "Cheka," being replaced by the Joint State Political Directorate (AKA OGPU). Narrator calls it the Political Police. Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Molotov is seen walking with a group of Soviet workers and politicians ostensibly charged with overseeing the OGPU. Another scene shows Molotov conversing with Joseph Stalin (Iosif Vissarionovich Stalin). Mikhail Ivanovich Kalinin stands to Stalin's left. views of Stalin. Lev Kamenev, a leader in Moscow City politics. Russian families on a train platform preparing to travel in box cars (to Siberia?). farmers harvesting grain in Russia. A woman shopkeeper cuts a loaf of bread in pieces and weighs them on a scale for sale to a customer. American foodstuffs provided as aid to Russia. Some of the American food being unloaded at a pier. American Relief Administration Chief, Herbert Hoover, standing at a port. Food being distributed to Russian citizens, and to children. Newspaper of March 14, 1923, announces the Lenin suffers a stroke. In January, 1924, a newspaper headline announces that "Lenin is dead." Lenin seen in coffin. Funeral cortege, including principal Soviet leaders, carries the coffin outdoors in falling snow. Spectators watch and others follow in the solemn funeral march. Narrator states that "Stalin,Zinoviev, and Kamenev force Trotsky into exile." Soviet citizens are seen at hard labor under new "Five year plans."

Japanese army officers examining foreign military equipment. A Japanese worker employing electric drill developed in a Western country. The Japanese freighter, Tatsuno Maru, loading scrap iron at a port in the United States. Other Japanese freighters loading coal and oil for shipment back to Japan. View of the Washington Naval Conference in Memorial Continental Hall, Washington, DC, held in 1921-22 and again in 1927 and 1930, to deal with several lingering issues. Glimpse of Japanese people holding flags while gathered near the Imperial Palace in Tokyo. Glimpse of Japanese army troops on parade. Japanese Navy warships at sea. A fleet of Japanese Mitsubishi G3M bombers and Nakajima Ki-27 pursuit planes, parked on an airfield. A loose formation of Ki-27s airborne. Animated map illustrates Japanese fortification of Mariana, Caroline, and Marshall islands in the Pacific. Animated map illustrating China's greater size and population vis-a-vis Japan. Animated map illustrating Japanese occupation of Manchuria in 1931. New York Times newspaper with headline "Japs Seize Manchuria" hovers over fires burning in Manchuria. Other newspaper headlines reporting on Mussolini's invasion of Ethiopia; the Spanish civil war; surrender of Czechoslovakia; invasion of Poland; Nazi assaults on France, Belgium, and the Netherlands; the London Blitz; and Nazi advances against Russia on the Eastern Front. Fnally, a Boston Hearald extra edition headline reports: "Pearl Harbor Bombed." A still photograph of Japanese Baron Tanaka Giichi (on left) with two other dignitaries, circa 1929. Japanese infantry streaming into Manchuria and then celebrating as they walk into local town. A busy street in a Chinese city. Japanese soldiers in Manchuria escorting local prisoners along a street. Animated map illustrating Japananese warships surrounding harbor of Shanghai, China. View from a Japanese ship bombarding Shanghai. Smoke rising from shell striking on Shanghai waterfront. View from land of severely damaged buildings on a street, and a shell exploding in background, as Chinese defenders move to successfully repel the Japanese forces. New map illustrates subsequent Japanese move, annexing Jehol, from occupied Manchukuo, and Korea. Japanese troops entering a town in Jehol. Sun newspaper headline: "League Censures Japan." Chinese diplomat protesting at League of Nations. Japanese troops exiting railroad trains in Jehol. Aisin Gioro Puyi aka Henry Pu Yi, Kangde Emperor (Kang-te Emperor) of the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo, is seen saluting Japanese troops on parade. Closeup of Puyi wearing shaded glasses, looking directly into the camera. chiang Kai-shek, with other Chinese officers. Reenactment of barbarian forces riding against China and thwarted by the Great Wall. Many Chinese walking in a long line along the Great Wall. Map tracing the Great Wall across China. Aerial view of the Great Wall from overflying airplane. Japanese troops marching through a city gate; infantry climbing a sheer cliff; and helmeted Japanese soldiers marching past civilians in a city. Map illustrated progress of Chinese unification by year 1937. Japanese officers conferring during occupation. Japanese troops leave a barracks, riding in open trucks. A line of the troop trucks moving along the dirt street of a town. The troops climb from their trucks in the town.

Players of baseball's New York Giants pose for team photo at their home stadium, the Polo Grounds in Manhattan, New York City. The Giants defeated the New York Yankees to win the 1921 World Series. Close-up view of the Giants' manager and Hall of Famer John McGraw.